F\  B\(x\n  1ja\K  on  ishe 


THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


A PLAIN  TALK 
ON  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


By  FRANCIS  E.  NIPHER. 


HOW  VALUES  ARE  FIXED. 

Ir^ONGRESS  has  enacted  that  the  value  of  23.22 
grains  of  gold  shall  be  the  unit  of  value.  This  does 
lot,  as  many  people  think,  fix  the  value  of  23.22  grains 
3f  gold,  but  merely  determines  that  whatever  that  value 
nay  be,  it  is  to  be  the  legal  unit  of  value. 

In  order  to  determine  the  length  of  an  iron  rod,  we 
must  find  how  many  times  longer  it  is  than  some  other 
Jamiliar  length,  called  the  foot.  The  unit  of  length 
lust  be  a length.  Precisely  so  the  unit  of  value  must 
le  a value,  and  it  is  the  value  adopted  by  Congress. 

The  value  of  any  article  is  not  a definite  thing,  nor  is 
It  a fixed  thing.  It  differs  with  different  people,  and 
with  the  same  person  it  varies  from  day  to  day.  Person- 
ally I now  consider  the  value  of  23.22  grains  of  gold,  in 
my  hand,  greater  than  five  tons  of  pig-iron  in  my  door- 
yard.  I wouldn’t  know  what  to  do  with  the  iron.  I 
couldn’t  use  the  iron  myself  and  I couldn’t  market  it  to 
my  advantage.  Some  other  person  having  knowledge 
and  facilities  not  possessed  by  me,  might  see  a bargain 
in  exchanging  the  gold  for  the  iron.  The  value  of  gold 
in  a pig-iron  standard,  or  of  pig-iron  in  a gold  standard. 


2 


How  Valuer  Are  Fixed, 


is  then  different  for  different  people.  I would  trade  the 
gold  for  20  dozen  of  eggs,  for  I know  how  and  where  to 
market  them. at  a profit.  | 

We  estimate  the  value  of  any  commodity  in  terms  of 
the  value  of  a definite  quantity  of  some  valuable  substance^ 
and  our  estimate  is  based  on  our  ability  to  market  the  twci 
articles,  the  commodity  bought,  and  the  equivalent  given! 

In  a large  city  there  is  always  a community  of  peophl 
who  are  interested  in  iron,  or  hay,  or  flour.  Theiil 
competitive  bidding  establishes  the  market  price.  The 
market  value  of  hay  is  fixed  by  the  man  whose  estimate 
of  the  value  of  hay  in  terms  of  gold  is  greatest,  or  whose 
estimate  of  the  value  of  gold  in  terms  of  hay  is  least. 
Evidently  Congress  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  fixing 
the  price  of  silver,  except  as  a purchaser  or  seller. 
Legislation  is  powerless.  That  Congress  has  made 
silver  a legal  tender  for  any  amount  has  not  materially 
affected  its  price.  How  many  people  know  or  care  that 
the  notes  of  a National  bank  are  not  a legal  tender  ? 

When  the  government  prints  a dollar  bill,  it  assumes 
responsibility  for  the  whole  amount  of  the  obligation. 
When  the  government  coins  a silver  dollar,  it  must  buy 
the  silver,  which  is  worth  53  cents,  and  it  must  assume 
the  obligation  for  only  47  cents,  if  it  is  to  be  exchange- 
able with  the  gold  dollar.  If  you  burn  a dollar  bill,  you 
cancel  the  obligation  of  the  government  for  100  cents.  IfJ 
you  melt  a silver  dollar,  you  cancel  the  obligations  of  thel 
government  for  47  cents,  and  you  have  left  53  cents’J 
worth  of  bullion.  This  silver  is  in  less  available  forr.  I 
for  trade  than  it  was  before  you  melted  it,  for  it  has  lost 
the  certificate  of  good  character  which  the  government 
stamp  gave  it,  and  you  must  prove  what  the  metal  is. 
With  a small  amount  of  metal  this  might  cost  you  more 
than  the  piece  is  worth. 

Melt  a million  silver  dollars  and  you  lose  $470,000  in 
gold.  The  pig-silver  you  have  left  will  be  worth  $530,000 
in  gold.  Melt  a million  gold  dollars  and  you  have  still  a 
million  dollars’  worth  of  gold.  Burn  a million  dollars  in 
treasury  notes  and  the  ashes  will  be  worthless.  If  the 


The  Results  of  Free  Coinage, 


government  were  hopelessly  unable  to  give  a gold  dollar 
for  its  one  dollar  notes,  and  for  the  silver  dollar,  the  notes 
would  be  worth  nothing  and  the  silver  dollar  would  be 
worth  its  market  price  as  pig-silver.  If  there  were  hope 
that  the  government  might  some  day  redeem  its  notes 
and  silver  coin  in  gold,  they  would  have  some  additional 
speculative  value  which  would  depend  on  what  the  most 
hopeful  in  the  community  thought  about  the  probability 
of  redemption. 

What  would  we  think  of  a milk  dealer  who  should 
advertise  that  he  had  bought  a stamping  machine,  and 
that  any  person  who  might  bring  him  sheet  brass  might 
have  it  coined  free  into  milk  checks  good  for  a quart  of 
milk.  That  the  owner  of  the  brass  might  take  the  checks 
away  as  his  property,  and  that  the  dealer  would  deliver 
milk  to  all  comers,  on  presentation  of  the  checks.  That 
would  be  the  free  coinage  of  brass,  at  a definite  ratio, 
determined  by  the  weight  of  the  check  and  the  weight 
of  the  quart  of  milk.  If  the  brass  check  weighed  one- 
sixteenth  of  the  weight  of  a quart  of  milk,  it  would  be  the 
free  coinage  of  brass  at  the  ratio  of  i to  i6. 

The  dealer  would  probably  fail  in  business,  unless  he 
changed  his  policy,  and  took  the  brass  at  its  junk  value. 


THE  RESULTS  OF  FREE  COINAGE. 

/^UR  friends  who  favor  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver,  justify  themselves  against  the  charge  of  injustice 
and  violation  of  their  contracts,  by  denunciation  of  a more 
or  less  Bryanesque  character.  They  point  to  the  greedy 
money-lender,  and  the  banks  who  wish  to  have  their 
payments  in  a gold  standard.  You  will  find  little,  if  any, 
reason  in  the  free  silver  orator.  We  simply  have  a denun- 
ciation of  those  who  hoard  money,  and  oppress  the  people, 
accompanied  with  a high  resolve  of  debtors  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  their  creditors. 


5 


■ O r »» 


4 The  Results  of  Free  Coinage, 

Does  anyone  suppose  that  banks  and  trust  companies 
enjoy  the  operation  of  hoarding  their  money  ? Can  a 
bank  afford  to  pay  rent  on  a building,  and  provide  itself 
wdth  steel  vaults,  merely  for  the  privilege  of  acting  as  a 
warehouse  for  the  safe  storage  of  its  depositors’  money? 
The  banks  and  trust  companies  always  wish  to  lend  as 
large  a fraction  as  they  dare,  of  their  deposits.  They 
will  lend  a larger  fraction  when  times  are  peaceful,  and 
men  are  busy  and  confident,  than  when  men  begin  to 
rave  in  real  or  apparent  indignation  at  those  who  have 
lent  money,  and  begin  to  talk  of  paying  in  a baser  metal 
than  they  have  borrowed  in.  The  banks  have  borrowed 
the  money  which  they  lend.  They  owe  this  money  to 
their  depositors,  and  they  are  always  anxious  to  have 
enough  money  on  hand  to  pay  their  depositors.  The 
present  situation  is  well  calculated  to  make  depositors 
fearful.  Those  who  are  intelligent  are  watching  the 
situation  very  closel3^  Whatever  may  be  the  true  theory 
of  finance,  there  is  danger  that  depositors  will  raid  the 
banks  in  a dreadful  panic,  in  order  to  save  themselves 
from  loss.  They  will  not  be  doing  the  banks  any  injustice. 
They  have  lent  money  as  good  as  gold,  and  they  fear  that 
we  shall  be  forced  to  a silver  basis,  where  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  silver  in  a silver  dollar  will  be  the  unit  of 
value.  If  this  time  comes  about,  the  banks  will  be  forced 
to  demand  the  money  which  they  lave  loaned  to  farmers, 
in  order  that  they  may  hoard  their  crops  for  higher  prices. 
When  the  local  banks  are  forced  to  this  action  all  over  the 
west,  they  will  not  be  in  a condition  to  lend  any  money. 
No  person  in  his  right  mind  will  lend  money  now.  Where 
will  the  farmer  get  his  money  to  pay  the  bank?  He  must 
sell  the  crops  he  has  been  hoarding,  with  a view  of 
oppressing  those  who  must  buy  of  him.  He  is  trying  to 
increase  the  price  of  the  food  which  the  poor  must  buy, 
and  which  they  have  not  been  able  to  buy  in  such  quan- 
tity as  formerly.  They  have  been  thrown  out  of  employ- 
ment in  immense  numbers,  because  those  who  could 
employ  them  were  afraid  to  put  their  mone}"  into  business. 
What  will  be  the  effect  on  prices  of  farm  produce,  if 


The  Results  of  Free  Coinage.  5 

farmers  all  over  the  west  who  are  hoarding  their  crops, 
are  all  simultaneously  forced  to  sell?  What  will  be  the 
condition  of  business  when  banks  are  being  raided  by 
frightened  depositors,  and  every  man  who  has  money  is 
afraid  to  trust  it  out  of  his  possession?  What  becomes  of 
the  laborer  who  depends  upon  his  daily  earnings  for  the 
money  to  buy  what  the  farmer  wishes  to  sell?  There  is 
no  lack  of  money.  The  trouble  is  that  it  does  not  circu- 
late. It  is  being  hoarded.  When  the  wind  does  not 
blow,  we  sometimes  say  there  is  no  air.  When  a railroad 
is  paralyzed  by  a strike,  we  say  there  are  not  enough 
cars  to  do  the  business  of  the  country.  That  is  exactly 
the  trouble  with  the  business  world  today.  Our  sound- 
producers  have  hurled  their  defiance  upon  the  air  from 
convention  halls.  They  have  voiced  a sentiment  which 
has  been  growing  for  several  3^ears.  Men  who  have 
money  are  afraid. 

People  seem  to  have  discovered  that  it  is  harder  to  pay 
debts  than  it  is  to  borrow  money.  What  have  they  done 
^vith  the  mone}"  they  borrowed?  They  are  supposed  to 
have  used  to  their  own  permanent  benefit.  Whose  fault 
is  it  if  they  have  not?  Why  do  they  think  it  wrong  for 
an  insurance  compan}^  to  demand  that  it  be  paid  back 
when  due?  Are  not  the  rights  of  the  widow  and  the 
orphan  as  sacred  as  the  rights  of  a borrower  of  their 
money?  Who  are  the  depositors  in  a bank?  Are  they 
not  the  neighbors  of  those  to  whom  the  bank  has  lent  the 
money.  I'his  money  a bank  or  a trust  compaii}^  lends  is 
very  largely  the  mone\"  of  thrifty  people  of  moderate 
means.  Nobod}"  compels  the  borrower  to  borrow.  If 
people  find  the  money-lender  greedy  and  think  it  best  to 
declare  independence,  why  does  it  not  occur  to  them  to 
stop  borrowing?  That  way  of  being  independent  can 
be  carried  out  without  any  fuss  and  feathers  or  outbursts 
of  youthful  oratory. 

Under  a free  silver  system,  the  men  who  now  have 
the  gold  will  export  it  and  buy  silver.  Gold  always  goes 
where  it  is  most  valued.  For  each  dollar  of  gold  they 
will  get  two  dollars  of  silver.  The  men  who  now  have 


6 The  Ethics  of  Free  Coinage, 

the  gold  will  then  have  the  silver.  Is  there  any  proba- 
bility that  they  will  be  less  greedy  then  than  now?  There 
would  be  more  wealth  then  than  now.  We  will  simply 
be  measuring  values  in  a smaller  unit.  If  congress  were 
to  declare  the  foot  to  be  the  poor  man’s  yard,  would  there 
be  any  more  calico  in  the  country  than  now?  If  the  square 
rod  were  to  be  called  the  poor  man’s  acre,  would  the 
farmer  be  richer  in  land?  Would  the  tramps  who  may 
sigh  for  free  land  thereby  become  possessed  of  land 
without  the  formality  of  exchanging  an  equivalent? 

It  appears  from  recent  developments,  that  it  is  sinful 
to  lend  money,  but  that  it  is  virtuous  to  borrow  money, 
and  make  the  deserts  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  then 
defraud  the  lender  on  the  ground  that  he  has  interfered 
with  the  business  of  the  people  of  Nebraska. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  FREE  COINAGE. 

T T is  claimed  that  the  fall  in  the  prices  of  most  of  the 
^ articles  that  people  buy  and  sell,  and  the  fall  in  the 
price  of  silver,  all  measured  in  a gold  standard,  is  proof 
that  gold  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  value.  This 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  in  any  sense  a proof.  We 
have  done  a great  deal  to  coddle  the  silver  producers, 
even  to  have  the  government  buy  4,500,000  ounces  of 
their  wares  each  month,  storing  it  away  in  the  vaults  of 
the  treasury.  Instead  of  increasing  the  price  of  silver, 
which  is  what  the  silver  men  claimed  it  would  do,  it  seems 
to  have  stimulated  production,  and  caused  a fall  in  price. 
There  has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  the  production 
and  it  seems  to  me  after  a careful  study,  that  it  fully 
accounts  for  the  fall  in  the  price  of  silver.  There  has  not 
been  much  increase  in  the  production  of  American  gold 
until  very  recently.  It  is  now  closely  approaching  the 
production  in  the  years  following  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California.  The  natural  laws  of  supply  and  demand  are 


The  Ethics  of  Free  Coinage,  7 

bringing  about  a compensationj  and  improved  methods  of 
treating  low  grade  ores,  only  lately  possible  and  now  being 
used,  will  gradually  make  enormous  changes  in  the  rela- 
tive value  of  gold  and  silver.  At  the  present  time  the 
production  of  gold  is  being^stimulated,  and  of  silver  is 
not.  This  will  tend  to  bring  the  metals  together,  and 
make  a large  use  of  silver  possible,  without  the  dreadful 
consequences^'which  must  result  from  the  sudden  and 
immense  changes  in  our  monetary  system  which  are  now 
proposed  by  the  radical  party.  The  gradual  fall  in  the 
prices  of  other  things  prior  to  the  last  panic  seems  to  me 
attributable  to  the  very  great  improvements  made  in 
methods  of  production.  I do  not  regard  it  as  an  unmixed 
evil,  that  the  articles  which  the  poor  must  buy  were  never 
cheaper  than  now. 

We  should  remember  that  we  live  in  a part  of  the 
country  only  fifty ^y ears  removed  from  the  wilderness  of 
frontier  life.  Our  farmers  have  more  of  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  life  than  can  be  found  among  the  tillers 
of  the  soil  in  any  other  nation  on  the  earth. 

Let  us  however  suppose  that  the  gold  dollar  is  increasing 
in  value,  that  it  is  becoming  harder  to  pay  debts  and  that 
borrowing  money  is  becoming  less  and  less  profitable  on 
this  account,  and  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
rate  of  interest  .has  been  steadily  falling  during  the  last 
30  years.  Isn’t  a man  supposed  to  know  the  condition  of 
the  markets  when  he  goes  into  them?  Suppose  a man 
borrows  an  elevator  full  of  wheat  hoping  to  make  some 
money  “hoarding”  it  for  higher  prices.  Is  not  not  every 
man  supposed  to  know  that  in  such  a transaction  disap- 
pointment and  loss  are  possible?  Is  the  country  to  be 
asked  to  elect  some  paternally  inclined  person,  president  of 
the  United  States  because  people  do  not  behave  them- 
selves wisel}^? 

If  a man  persist  in  doing  something  which  experience 
shows  to  be  unprofitable,  must  we  have  a Populist  presi- 
dent to  tell  that  man  when  to  quit? 

As  surely  as  you  begin  to  legislate  to  help  people  out 
of  their  business  troubles,  so  surely  will  3"ou  wrong  those 


8 The  Ethics  of  Free  Coinage. 

who  have  had  sense  enough  to  keep  out  of  trouble.  It 
is  asking  the  country  to  put  a premium  on  stupidity.  It 
is  asking  the  country  to  so  legislate  that  contracts  now  in 
force  under  an  established  order  of  things  shall  be  suddenly 
and  greatly  changed  in  the  interests  of  those  who  claim 
they  have  the  worst  end  of  the  bargain.  Would  that  be 
fair  in  a horse  trade?  If  a man  go  into  any  business 
hoping  to  pocket  gains  ought  he  not  to  be  ready  to  pay 
losses? 

If  borrowing  money  be  an  unsatisfactory  business,  with 
the  rate  of  interest  steadily  falling,  does  it  not  appear 
probable  that  men  have  found  it  too  easy  to  borrow  and 
that  they  have  borrowed  too  much? 

Even  if  it  be  true  that  the  value  of  23.22  grains  of  gold 
is  becoming  greater,  when  measured  in  terms  of  the 
average  commodity,  congress  has  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  The  value  of  gold,  like  the  value  of  wheat  is  deter- 
mined by  competitive  bidding  in  the  open  market  of  those 
who  wish  to  get  it.  You  might  as  well  ask  congress  to 
declare  a half  bushel  to  be  a bushel,  in  the  interests  of  the 
men  who  have  borrowed  too  much  wheat  on  a falling 
market,  as  to  declare  in  the  interests  of  any  interested 
class  of  people,  that  50  cents  worth  of  silver  shall  be  the 
unit  of  value.  Congress  has  enacted  that  23.22  grains 
of  gold  is  to  be  the  unit,  but  to  ask  congress  to  fix  the 
value  of  this  unit  in  terms  of  the  average  commodity,  is 
simply  to  ask  it  to  fix  the  market  price  of  the  average 
commodity,  in  gold. 

Every  good  citizen  should  be  ready  to  take  his  chances 
in  the  uncertainties  of  business.  It  is  the  manly  thing  to 
do.  But  when  any  party  or  class  of  men  proposes  to  use 
the  machinery  of  the  government  to  suddenly  and  arbi- 
trarily change  by  fifty  per  cent  the  standard  of  value  that 
has  been  duly  authorized  and  used  for  half  a century  and 
in  which  all  the  business  of  the  country  is  being  transacted, 
an  emergency  about  as  serious  as  that  of  1861  is  created 
in  which  all  persons  should  lose  sight  of  the  petty  obliga- 
tions of  party.  In  my  opinion  the  welfare  of  the  entire 
country  is  at  stake.  It  is  not  a remote  danger  that 


The  Ethics  of  Free  Coinage.  9 

threatens,  but  its  effects  will  be  immediate.  No  man 
can  predict  how  great  the  disaster  will  be.  No  nation 
has  ever  before  dared  to  venture  upon  so  tremendous  an 
experiment.  When  silver  was  formally  demonetized  in 
1873,  congress  simply  legalized  a condition  that  had  been 
in  existence  for  years,  and  was  brought  about  slowly  by 
the  ordinary  operations  of  trade.  The  silver  in  the  silver 
dollar,  when  uncoined,  was  then  worth  102  to  103  cents 
in  gold.  No  person  would  pay  a debt  in  silver  dollars, 
since  he  could  melt  those  silver  dollars  and  with  every 
silver  dollar  he  could  buy  103  cents  in  gold  coin.  Silver 
simply  would  not  circulate.  English  kings  have  done 
their  utmost  to  make  the  more  valuable  money  circulate, 
even  to  making  the  melting  or  exporting  of  such  coin  a 
capital  offense,  punishable  with  death.  No  government 
has  ever  succeeded  in  such  attempt  except  by  treating 
the  cheaper  coin  as  an  obligation  to  be  redeemed  in  the 
dearer  one  of  the  same  denomination.  Men  may  be 
robbed  by  a legal  change  in  the  unit  applying  to  previous 
contracts,  but  they  do  not  readily  submit  to  make  new 
contracts  on  the  same  basis. 

It  is  claimed  that  English  money  was  used  in  securing 
the  act  of  demonetization.  There  is  absolutely  no  proof 
of  this,  and  nothing  shows  more  clearly  the  character  of 
thinking  which  has  brought  about  the  present  silver  craze. 
We  are  seriously  asked  to  believe  that  English  and 
American  money  lenders  were  willing  to  pay  for  an  act 
demonetizing  silver,  for  fear  their  loans  would  be  repaid 
in  silver  dollars,  which  were  not  in  circulation,  because 
they  had  been  hoarded,  exported  or  melted  for  the  silver 
in  them,  and  which  would  have  been  intrinsically  worth 
102  to  103  cents  in  the  current  gold  coin.  There  are 
now  many  people  who  seem  to  think  that  if  52  cents 
worth  of  silver  can  be  made  to  circulate  in  an  unlimited 
free  coinage  and  pay  a debt  of  one  dollar,  that  100  cents 
worth  of  gold  will  condescend  to  do  the  same  thing. 


lO 


Chea^  Dollm's  and  Dear  Goods. 


CHEAP  DOLLARS  AND  DEAR  GOODS,  SHORT] 
MILES  AND  LONG  DISTANCES. 


TT  is  sometimes  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  cheap 
^ money  that  it  has  always  increased  the  business  of  a 
country.  This  is  another  fallacy.  There  is  something 
about  the  free  silver  idea  which  seems  to  promote  ora- 
tory and  the  growth  of  hair  rather  than  reason  and  care- 
ful thinking.  There  is  another  fact  that  might  be  cited 
before  taking  up  the  merits  of  this  matter,  that  in  all 
countries  where  the  rod  has  been  adopted  as  the  tired 
man’s  mile,  it  has  always  increased  the  walking  ability  of 
the  people.  Those  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking 
a walk  of  a mile  or  two  before  breakfast,  developed  such 
an  astonishing  bodily  vigor,  that  they  were  not  satisfied 
with  a shorter  morning  walk  than  320  and  they  might 
extend  it  to  640  miles.  It  is  in  such  fashion  that  a cheap- 
er money  increases  business.  If  we  were  now  to  change 
to  a 50-cent  dollar,  the  Saturday  reports  of  bank  clear- 
ings to  be  found  in  all  the  daily  papers  of  large  cities, 
would  apparently  show  that  the  country  is  doing  twice 
as  much  business  as  now,  for  there  would  be  twice  as 
many  cheap  dollars  required  to  do  the  same  business  that 
we  are  doing  now.  We  are  now  doing  business  with  the 
gold  dollar  as  the  unit.  The  silver  dollar  and  the  paper 
dollar,  will  now  buy  as  much  as  a gold  dollar,  because 
the  government  in  response  to  the  platforms  and  policy 
of  the  republican  and  democratic  parties,  has  maintained 
the  equality  of  every  dollar  issued  by  the  government. 
The  paper  in  the  paper  dollar  is  in  itself  worth  nothing. 
The  silver  in  the  silver  dollar  is  worth  about  53  cents. 
The  government  has  treated  both  the  paper  note  and  the 
silver  dollar,  as  obligations  which  it  will  undertake  to  re- 
deem in  gold  dollars.  In  the  absence  of  needed  legis- 
lation by  congress  this  was  the  only  practical  way  of 
carrying  out  the  repeatedly  announced  policy  of  both  of 
the  great  parties,  and  of  congress  as  expressed  in  the  act 
of  Nov.  I,  1893.  If  the  democratic  party  should  hold  a 
convention  this  year,  it  will  undoubtedly  reaffirm  the  policy 
of  its  platform  of  1892. 


Cheaf  Dollars  and  Dear  Goods,  ii 

In  order  to  relieve  the  government  of  the  task  of  main- 
taining gold  and  silver  at  a parity  when  they  have  differ- 
ent intrinsic  values  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  amount 
of  silver  in  the  silver  dollar  should  be  increased  so  as  to 
make  it  equal  in  value  to  the  gold  dollar.  There  are 
three  fatal  objections  to  this  plan. 

1.  The  silver  dollar  would  be  too  large.  It  is  now  so 
large  that  it  will  only  circulate  in  the  payment  of  small 
sums  although  a legal  tender  to  any  amount. 

2.  It  would  take  years  to  recoin  the  silver  now  in  cir- 
culation, and  the  government  would  be  compelled  to  buy 
an  amount  of  silver  nearly  equal  to  that  now  in  circula- 
tion in  order  to  make  its  silver  dollars  good  for  their  face 
value. 

3.  Before  this  coinage  could  take  place  the  relative 
values  of  the  silver  and  gold  in  the  two  dollars  would  have 
changed.  It  would  be  just  as  absurd  for  the  government 
to  make  the  oat  bushel  large  enough  so  that  it  should  be 
equal  in  value  to  the  value  of  the  present  bushel  of  wheat, 
at  their  respective  prices  today,  and  then  expect  an  act  of 
congress  to  make  them  stay  equal. 

It  has  also  been  suggested  that  the  gold  in  the  gold 
dollar  should  be  diminished,  so  that  its  value  should  be 
equal  to  that  of  the  present  silver  dollar. 

The  second  and  third  objections  apply  to  this  plan  also. 
There  is  in  addition  a moral  question  involved  in  this  plan. 
To  change  the  silver  dollar  so  as  to  make  it  intrinsically 
equal  to  what  people  have  been  passing  and  accepting 
it  for,  would  defraud  no  one.  The  government  would 
simply  be  making  its  silver  obligations  good,  by  actually 
putting  into  the  coin  the  value  for  which  it  has  under- 
taken to  be  responsible. 

But  for  the  government  to  debase  its  gold  coinage  so 
as  to  make  it  equal  in  value  to  its  silver  token  money  of 
the  same  denomination,  would  be  a monstrous  fraud. 
Why  stop  at  silver.^  Why  not  debase  it  until  we  reach 
the  level  of  our  copper  coinage,  or  our  paper  money? 
That  operation  would  be  the  same  as  if  a milk  dealer 
were  to  debase  his  milk  until  the  quart  of  water  with  a 


12 


The  Present  Cheaf  Prices, 


coloring  of  milk  should  be  equal  in  value  to  the  brass  | 
checks  he  has  issued,  which  call  for  a quart  of  milk. 

A youth  named  Coin,  who  wrote  an  account  of  an 
imaginary  school  of  finance,  gave  great  prominence  to 
this  scheme  of  debasing  the  gold  coinage,  which  he  call- 
ed the  money  of  the  rich,  by  making  the  gold  dollar  half 
as  large  as  it  is  now.  It  may  be  that  he  knew  so  little 
about  the  matter  that  he  was  unable  to  see  what  this  plan 
would  really  accomplish.  He  represented  himself  as  be- 
ing  young,  and  he  may  have  been  immature.  It  may  be 
that  he  is  really  a gold  bug  in  disguise  and  that  he  has 
somewhere  a hoard  of  gold  coin  which  he  is  seeking  to 
have  the  government  coin  into  twice  as  many  dollars  as 
he  now  has.  In  that  way  the  gold  bug  would  be  able  to 
pay  twice  as  much  of  debt  as  he  can  now  with  his  pre- 
sent dollars. 

How  a person  who  hates  gold  bugs  as  this  youth  claims 
to  hate  them  can  approve  a scheme  to  give  them  two  gold 
dollars  for  every  one  they  have  now,  is  a question  for 
study  which  seems  to  lie  outside  of  the  domain  of  nation- 
al finance.  I may  remark,  however,  that  this  part  of  Mr. 
Coin’s  book  is  of  about  the  same  calibre  as  the  rest  of  it. 


THE  PRESENT  CHEAP  PRICES. 

'T^HERE  is  without  question  great  reason  for  farmers 
^ to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  present  prices  of  their 
produce.  Let  us  examine  into  the  recent  conditions 
which  have  led  to  them. 

We  have  been  passing  through  a panic,  and  it  has  been 
a prolonged  one.  Business  has  been  at  its  lowest  ebb. 
Thousands  and  thousands  of  men  have  been  thrown  out 
of  employment,  and  a great  body  of  our  people  has  been 
compelled  to  very  severe  economy.  Men  who  ate  meat 
every  day  have  been  compelled  to  go  without  it.  People 
have  been  unable  to  buy  even  the  necessaries,  to  say  no- 


The  Present  Cheaf  Prices, 


13 


thing  of  the  comforts  of  life.  They  wished  to  buy  the 
produce  which  the  farmer  wished  to  sell,  but  they  were 
unable  to  do  so. 

A financial  panic  is  not  a new  thing.  There  have  been 
about  eighteen  of  them  in  the  last  two  hundred  years. 
They  have  come  so  regularly,  at  intervals  of  about  eleven 
years,  that  learned  men  have  sought  to  connect  them 
with  sun-spots,  and  magnetic  cycles  and  other  astronom- 
ical periods.  These  panics  all  have  the  same  general 
features.  In  later  years  the  relations  of  all  civilized 
nations  have  become  so  intimate,  that  the  calamity  of  one 
brings  suffering  to  all.  We  are  no  sooner  over  with  one 
panic  than  we  begin  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  next 
one.  Men  again  plunge  into  business.  They  start  am- 
bitious plans  for  making  money.  Money  has  long  been 
unemployed,  and  may  be  more  easily  borrowed  as  con- 
fidence returns.  The  number  of  borrowers,  and  the  num- 
ber who  have  overstrained  their  credit  gradually  increases. 
Finally  something  hapens  which  causes  apprehension  in 
the  mind  of  some  old  fox  who  has  been  caught  in  a panic 
before.  He  sells  some  of  his  securities  to  straighten  his 
affairs.  Prices  drop  a little,  and  others  are  pinched  and 
are  forced  to  sell.  The  alarm  developes  here  and  there 
among  the  heavily  loaded.  They  begin  to  sell  freely. 
The  alarm  becomes  general.  Everybody  with  obli- 
gations soon  to  become  due,  begins  to  need  money.  Some 
hesitate  to  sell  at  such  sacrifice  and  try  to  borrow.  Banks 
refuse  the  securities  as  collateral  which  were  perfectly 
good  a few  days  before.  They  also  begin  to  demand 
payment  on  maturing  obligations.  The  panic  begins. 
Depositors  withdraw  their  deposits  from  banks.  Every- 
body of  whom  settlement  can  be  demanded  is  pressed  for 
settlement,  and  they  cannot  settle.  They  know  that  they 
cannot  pay  all,  and  they  resolve  to  collect  as  much  as 
possible,  and  pay  as  little  as  possible.  They  pay  slowly 
and  in  part  ^as  the  pressure  increases,  in  order  to  avoid 
suits.  Everybody  fights  for  time  and  for  the  chances 
time  may  bring.  Business  begins  to  suffer  severely.  Men 
;are  idle,  and  hunger  and  suffering  appear. 


14 


The  Present  Cheaf  Prices. 

People  clamor  at  the  doors  of  banks  that  have  failed. 
Hungry  mein  with  hungry  children  at  home  begin  to  think 
mischief.  Business  firms  which  have  not  shut  down  are 
obliged  to  run  on  half  time  with  a part  of  their  old  force, 
and  at  reduced  wages.  It  is  choice  between  this  policy 
and  failure.  But  the  men  are  dependent  on  their  wages 
and  they  feel  that  they  cannot  submit.  They  all  strike. 
The  whole  country  becomes  anxious.  The  din  of  inflam- 
ed mobs  of  men  with  frenzied  faces  and  angry  voices,  the 
glare  of  burning  buildings  and  the  crack  of  rifles  in ’the 
streets  fill  the  souls  of  thinking  men  with  solemn  awe  and 
pity.  But  the  violence  is  soon  crushed  with  the  mighty 
agencies  which  the  people  have  established,  and  the  poor, 
in  mute  despair,  begin  to  wonder  if  there  is  a just  God 
who  rules  the  destinies  of  man. 

The  grizzly  head  of  the  anarchist,  the  smooth-tongued 
demagogue  and  cranks  of  every  description  appear  as  the 
crisis  passes  its  climax.  Every  quack  financial  medicine 
that  has  ever  been  produced  by  a disordered  imagination, 
is  brought  forward  as  a cure  for  all  the  evils  which  afflict 
society.  These  remedies  always  take  the  form  of  cheap 
money,  of  some  kind  or  another.  The  poor  sufferers 
appear  to  think  that  they  must  devise  some  form  of  money 
so  worthless  that  it  will  not  be  sought  by  the  avaricious. 

These  things,  so  familiar  to  us,  were  all  familiar  to  men 
a century  aso.  All  of  the  nostrums,  now  proposed,  have 
been  tried  and  they  have  all  failed.  No  system  of  finance 
will  remove  the  love  of  gain  from  the  human  heart  and 
replace  the  courage  and  confidence  of  youth  with  the 
caution  and  wisdom  of  age.  If  men  \yould  cease  borrow- 
ing money,  there  would  be  no  financial  panics,  and  so  long 
as  they  borrow  unwisely  we  shall  have  them. 

They  can  borrow  silver  money  as  easily  as  any  other 
kind.  And  it  is  not  the  poor  who  borrow  and  bring  all 
this  distress  and  sorrow  to  men,  it  is  the  rich  man  of  af- 
fairs with  a large  pay  roll  of  employees,  who  is  seeking 
to  build  up  great  industries,  who  precipitates  the  trouble 
and  his  fall  drags  down  thousands  whose  well  laid  plans 
would  have  succeeded  but  for  the  unforseen  calamity. 


The  Present  Cheaf  Prices, 


15 


It  matters  not  how  much  money  there  may  be  in  a 
a country,  or  what  kind  of  money  it  is,  the  man  who  has 
made  his  plan  too  large  for  his  cash,  the  man  who  has 
borrowed  money  and  used  it,  and  then  finds  himself 
caught  in  a panic,  will  complain  of  a scarcity  of  money. 
Somebody  else  will  have  the  money  and  his  soul  will  al- 
ways long  for  a large  quantity  of  cheap  money  with 
which  to  pay  his  expensive  debts.  The  ideal  cheap 
money  in  such  an  emergency,  is  a money  so  worthless 
that  one  is  not  obliged  to  give  anything  for  it,  and  which 
the  creditor  is  by  Jaw  compelled  to  accept  as  payment 
for  the  more  expensive  money — the  money  of  the  rich — 
which  he  lent.  The  great  trouble  with  any  ordinary 
kind  of  money  is  that  it  is  not  cheap  in  a panic. 

The  country  needs  rest.  It  cannot  yet  consume  the 
immense  accumulations  of  farm  produce  now  being  held 
for  higher  prices,  for  business  is  not  yet  established  on 
its  old  lines.  Men  hesitate  to  invest  their  money  when 
they  are  threatened  with  losses  which  must  appal  the 
most  courageous.  We  should  cease  this  angry  and  idle 
defiance  of  those  who  have  always  been  our  best  custom- 
ers and  help  the  East  to  put  its  men  to  work.  A great 
deal  more  of  co-operation  and  less  of  throat-cutting  would 
simplify  the  present  situation  in  a very  wonderful  way. 
Can  we  prosper  when  the  East  is  in  distress?  Do  we  not 
all  remember  that  our  recent  panic  started  with  the  fail- 
ure of  the  English  house  of  Baring  Bros,  in  its  invest- 
ments in  the  Argentine  Republic?  There  followed  soon 
after  a similar  trouble  in  English  investments  in  Austra- 
lia. In  order  to  save  themselves  London  investors  began 
to  sell  American  stocks  and  bonds,  and  American  hold- 
ers were  obliged  to  buy  them  and  ship  our  gold  for  them, 
or  suffer  the  ruin  of  their  own  enterprises.  The  trouble 
gradually  spread,  and  we  in  Iowa  are  now  suffering  more 
severe  pressure  than  we  have  felt  before  since  the  trou- 
ble began.  Many  of  our  respected,  but  I think  mistaken, 
fellow-citizens  have  reached  a point  where  the  advice  of 
an  eastern  banker  that  it  is  considered  dangerous  to  leap 
over  Niagara,  would  at  once  determine  their  resolve  to 


Money  in  Business. 


i6 

do  this  very  thing.  If  free  and  unlimited  coinage  is  a 
mistake  it  will  be  a dreadful  mistake,  and  it  will  take 
years  to  recover  our  lost  ground.  No  one  can  tell  where 
it  will  all  end,  but  there  is  grave  reason  to  fear  the  worst 
is  yet  to  come,  unless  we  repudiate  the  agitators  and 
cranks  who  are  now  seeking  their  own  profit  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  poor. 


MONEY  IN  BUSINESS. 

XT  is  constantly  urged  that  gold  has  appreciated  in  val- 
ue  for  many  years,  and  that  this  is  due  to  an  effort  of 
those  who  possess  money  to  lend. 

It  this  be  true,  and  the  money  lender  has  such  powers, 
why  is  it  that  the  rate  of  interest  decreases?  We  do  not 
usually  associate  an  increase  in  the  value  of  farms  and 
houses  with  a fall  in  rent.  During  the  last  thirty  years, 
the  rate  of  interest  in  Iowa  has  diminished  by  30  per 
cent,  of  its  value  at  the  beginning  of  that  period.  This 
may  be  claimed  to  be  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  the 
farmer  has  grown  rich  and  can  give  better  security.  This 
is  not  in  itself  a sign  that  the  farmer  is  so  badly  off  as  he 
is  sometimes  represented  to  be. 

The  average  rate  of  interest  at  the  bank  of  England 
during  1863  4 was  between  7 and  8 per  cent.  In  1865 

it  declined  to  4 per  cent.  By  1873  it  had  declined  to  3 
per  cent.  During  the  panic  of  that  year  it  rose  for  a short 
time  to  9 per  cent,  but  declined  to  4^^  per  cent  by  the 
close  of  the  year.  There  was  a similar  rise  during  the 
last  panic,  but  the  rate  has  now  fallen  to  i to  2 per  cent, 
although  I doubt  if  Americans  could  now  get  English 
money  at  that  rate.  Is  the  whole  world  which  borrows 
of  London  also  able  to  give  so  much  better  security  as  is 
represented  by  these  changes? 

Just  before  the  present  agitation  of  the  silver  question, 
eastern  investors  were  about  to  reduce  the  interest  on 


Money  tn  Bttstness, 


n 


Iowa  real  estate  loans  to  6 per  cent,  and  they  even  ex- 
pected to  be  compelled  to  reduce  to  5 per  cent  at  a very 
early  day.  A large  part  of  such  loans  made  during  the 
past  five  years,  are  made  with  a provision  which  permits 
the  payment  of  any  number  of  even  hundreds  of  dollars 
on  such  loan  at  any  time,  or  in  some  cases  at  any  date 
when  interest  is  due.  This  would  enable  any  borrower 
to  borrow  at  a lower  rate  and  pay  his  old  loan. 

I cannot  see  what  there  is  about  such  a situation  to 
arouse  the  wrath  of  anybody.  But  the  ugly  spirit  mani- 
fested by  the  few  w^ho  have  done  the  talking  of  late,  and 
the  uncertainty  concerning  the  position  of  the  large  class 
of  people  who  do  not  talk,  has  caused  a large  class  of  in- 
vestors to  decline  to  loan  at  any  price,  until  the  attitude 
of  the  country  can  be  determined.  There  will  be  an 
abundance  of  money  as  soon  as  it  is  settled  by  an  over- 
whelming vote  that  those  who  part  with  it  in  business  of 
their  own,  or  lend  it  to  others,  will  not  suddenly  find 
their  dollars  worth  only  50  cents  in  gold. 

There  are  comparatively  few  people  who  realize  how 
small  a portion  of  the  business  of  the  country  is  done 
with  actual  money.  For  instance,  I may  pay  my  physi- 
cian with  a check  on  the  First  National  Bank.  When 
my  check  returns  to  me  I find  from  the  endorsements 
on  it,  that  my  physician  used  it  in  paying  his  grocer, 
that  the  grocer  used  it  in  paying  a debt  to  a wholesale 
house,  and  that  the  latter  endorsed  it  and  deposited  it  in 
the  Merchants’  Bank,  The  latter  bank  does  not  send  the 
check  to  my  bank  for  the  money,  but  my  check  with 
hundreds  of  others  on  various  other  banks,  is  taken  by  a 
clerk  of  the  bank  to  the  clearing  house.  The  clearing 
house  is  the  agency  for  the  daily  exchange  of  these  checks, 
receiving  from  the  agent  of  each  bank  the  checks  he  pre- 
sents against  all  others,  and  returning  to  him  the  checks 
which  all  others  present  against  him.  If  the  balance  is 
against  him,  his  bank  pays  cash  to  balance,  and  if  it  is  in 
his  favor,  his  bank  receives  cash  to  balance.  When  the 
clerk  of  my  bank  returns  from  the  clearing  house,  the 
amount  of  my  check  is  charged  to  my  account  and  credit- 


i8 


Money  in  Business, 


ed  to  that  of  the  bank.  A depositor  with  a salary  of  $3 
000  a year,  will  in  ten  years  deposit  $30,000  in  his  bank, 
without  ever  having  deposited  a dollar  in  actual  money. 
Most  of  this  money  will  be  paid  out  by  him  on  checks. 
Of  this  $30,000,  he  may  never  have  seen  $1,000  in  cash. 
It  is  more  convenient  to  pay  checks  than  to  carry  money 
in  his  pocket  and  make  change,  and  in  a large  city  nearly 
all  of  the  business  is  done  in  this  way.  A depositor 
simply  wishes  to  know  that  if  he  chooses  he  may  at  any 
time  draw  his  check  for  the  whole  amount  standing  to 
his  credit,  and  receive  that  amount  at  once  from  the  pay- 
ing teller.  If  he  thinks  there  is  any  doubt  about  the  mat- 
ter he  is  likely  to  make  that  experiment  at  once. 

If  the  distrust  becomes  general  there  is  certain  to  be 
trouble  which  will  more  or  less  seriously  involve  every- 
body in  the  country.  In  any  Saturday  morning  paper, 
printed  in  a large  city,  may  be  found  the  bank  clearings 
for  the  week  for  the  larger  cities  of  the  country.  This 
gives  the  aggregate  value  of  clearing  house  paper.  The 
report  for  July  31  shows  the  bank  clearings  for  New 
York  city  to  have  been  $449,630,352,  a decrease  of  9.8 
per  cent,  as  compared  with  the  corresponding  week  of 
last  year.  In  the  eighty-four  cities  represented  in  the  re- 
port the  total  bank  clearings  were  $811,433,203,  a de- 
crease of  1 1.6  per  cent  as  compared  with  the  correspond- 
ing week  of  last  year.  In  all  of  those  transactions  none 
of  the  persons  paying  the  debt  and  none  of  the  persons 
to  whom  the  debt  is  paid  have  handled  any  money,  al- 
though anyone  of  them  might  have  done  so  had  he  so  de- 
sired. This  business  is  all  a cash  business,  done  without 
cash.  It  would  simply  be  impossible  to  do  this  business 
by  the  actual  payment  of  money  and  it  would  be  very 
wasteful  and  expensive  to  attempt  to  do  it.  This  system 
of  doing  business  is  not  the  source  of  trouble  in  a panic. 
It  is  the  unwise  borrowing  and  unwise  investments  of  too 
many  people  that  make  trouble,  not  the  use  of  checks 
and  drafts  for  doing  a cash  business.  The  decrease  from 
last  year  of  from  10  to  18  per  cent  in  the  aggregate  busi- 
ness passing  through  the  clearing  houses  which  the  weekly 


Money  in  Business, 


19 


reports  have  shown  during  the  last  two  months,  is  well 
'calculated  to  make  thinking  people  think. 

The  objection  frequently  made  to  a definite  amount  of 
gold  as  a measure  of  value  is  that  there  is  not  enough 
gold  to  do  the  business  of  the  country.  As  we  have  seen 
the  great  business  of  the  country  is  not  not  only  not  done 
with  gold,  but  it  is  not  done  with  any  kind  of  money.  It 
would  be  just  as  reasonable  to  object  to  the  quart  as  a 
measure  of  volume,  because  there  are  not  enough  quart 
measures  to  hold  all  of  the  molasses  produced. 

A SPECIMEN  SILVER  ARGUMENT. 

Dr.  John  C.  Ridpath  has  recently  published  an  inter- 
view in  which  he  says: 

According  to  my  way  of  thinking  our  government  has 
been  steadily  drifting  away  from  the  people  and  getting 
into  the  power  of  special  interests.  The  circle  of  govern- 
ment has  narrowed  and  narrowed  till  it  appears  to  me  the 
height  of  absurdity  to  call  it  any  longer  a government 
‘of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the  people.’  I 
want  to  see  this  process  completely  reversed.  I want  to 
see  the  government  restored  to  the  people.  I believe 
precisely  what  W ebster  and  Theodore  Parker  and  Lincoln 
declared,  viz:  That  our  republic  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a 
government  of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the 
people.” 

These  are  my  sentiments  also,  but  this  program  is  not 
now  up  for  consideration.  It  is  the  free  and  unlimited 
coinage  of  silver  at  a ratio  of  16  to  i without  waiting, 
etc.,  that  is  now  before  the  people.  If  some  way  can  be 
found  to  tax  inheritances,  so  that  the  dangers  resulting 
from  immense  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  a few  man  can  be 
avoided  by  making  it  impossible  for  such  fortunes  to 
persist,  then  something  would  be  accomplished.  It  is, 
however,  hard  to  see  how  we  are  going  to  accomplish 
any  reform  by  doing  the  Sampson  act,  and  pulling  our 
own  house  down  about  our  ow^n  ears. 

Dr.  Ridpath  continues: 

“We  want  our  currency  S3^stem  put  back  precisely 


20 


Money  in  Business. 


where  it  was  under  the  statute  and  constitution  for  the 
first  eighty-one  years  of  our  existence  as  a nation.  Our 
statutory  bimetallic  system  of  currency  was  taken  from 
us  in  1873  by  a process  which  I do  not  care  to  charac- 
terize in  fitting  terms.” 

The  trouble  with  this  loose  kind  of  talk  is  that  in  1873 
the  silver  in  a silver  dollar  was  worth  103  cents  in  gold, 
while  it  is  now  only  worth  53  cents.  We  can  not  exactly 
tell  what  effect  free  coinage  will  have  on  the  price  of 
silver.  Some  reckless  writers  who  address  political 
audiences  and  write  political  editorials  say  that  it  will 
become  exactly  equal  in  value  to  one-sixteenth  of  its 
weight  in  gold  or  that  the  gold  dollar  and  the  silver 
dollar  will  have  equal  intrinsic  value.  The  silver  advo- 
cates in  the  senate  claimed  that  the  purchase  by  the 
government  of  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  monthly  would 
also  raise  silver  to  par.  The  annual  production  of  Amer- 
ican silver  was  then  only  54,500,000  ounces  a year,  of 
which  the  government  was  to  take  practically  all.  Our 
experience  with  these  prophets  then  causes  me  to  suspect 
their  prophetic  ability.  It  seems  to  me  more  than  likely 
that  it  will  cheapen  silver,  by  stimulation  of  production. 
At  best  such  wild  legislation  will  be  a leap  in  the  dark. 
It  is  a tremendous  experiment.  It  is  full  of  the  most 
threatening  danger.  No  business  can  prosper  when  such 
reckless  changes  are  seriously  threatened.  It  would  be 
no  more  of  an  absurdity  for  the  countiy  to  decide  by 
popular  vote  whether  or  not  anti-toxin  should  be  used  in 
the  treatment  of  diphtheria.  We  should  send  our  best 
men  to  Washington  and  tell  them  to  do  what  is  right  for 
us  in  such  matters  as  the  financial  S3"stem  of  the  country. 
What  better  can  we  do?  Such  questions  are  not  for  you 
and  me.  We  can  not  give  them  such  stud}"  as  the}" 
should  have  in  order  to  settle  them  rightly. 

The  last  part  of  Dr.  Ridpath’s  statement  quoted  above 
is  unworthy  of  a man  of  his  standing.  It  is  shown  by  the 
records  that  this  law  of  1873  under  discussion  three 
years,  and  that  it  was  printed  thirteen  times.  It  was 
passed  as  openly  as  any  law  is  ever  passed.  I confess, 


# 

liai‘ 


Money  in  Bnsmess. 


21 


lard  for  the  truth  to  overtake  a falsehood. 

A MORAL  QUESTION. 

It  may  be  claimed  by  the  voter  that  there  cannot  be 
anything  very  calamitous  about  the  proposed  free  silver 
legislation  when  so  many  senators  of  the  United  States 
are  in  favor  of  the  policy.  This  would  have  more  force 
if  the  people  had  not  so  largely  settled  on  the  details  of 
what  is  to  be  done.  They  leave  nothing  for  the  discre- 
tion of  their  representatives  and  the  senators  are  trying 
to  represent  the  people.  They  are  not  doing  what  they 
think  should  be  done.  I have  personally  heard  a senator 
denounce  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  as  a 
fraud  and  a mistake  of  the  worst  kind.  He  however 
said  at  the  same  time  that  he  would  support  it  officially, 
because  his.  constituents  were  in  favor  of  it.  In  making 
this  statement  he  seemed  to  be  trying  to  defend  his  intel- 
ligence rather  than  exhibit  moral  sense.  He  has  been 
publicly  accused  of  such  perfidy  in  the  Washington  and 
New  York  papers,  and  he  has  indignantly  denied  that 
he  was  personally  opposed  to  free  coinage.  He  was  a 
prominent  figure  at  the  late  Chicago  convention.  I have 
heard  people  in  his  state  say  that  they  did  not  understand 
the  matter,  but  they  were  influenced  greatly  by  this  senator, 
and  thought  there  could  be  nothing  very  bad  about  free 
coinage. 

I have  reliable  information  which  I fully  believe  about 
another  free  silver  senator,  who  stated  that  he  would 
resign  his  office  rather  than  vote  for  free  silver,  if  his 
vote  were  the  deciding  one. 

I also  have  information  which  I believe,  to  the  effect 
that  a majority  of  the  senators  who  voted  for  free  silver 
are  personally  opposed  to  it  as  a gigantic  folly,  and  that 
they  would  not  have  voted  for  it  if  they  had  not  known 
that  the  president  would  veto  any  measure  of  the  kind 
which  might  reach  him.  There  are  men  in  Washington 
who  know  personally  about  these  matters,  and  whose 
word  would  be  believed  by  the  country,  even  if  no  names 


22 


Money  in  Business, 


were  given.  It  would  seem  that  such  men  owe  it  to  thdl 
country  to  speak  out.  I have  talked  with  many  whojl 
are  in  a smaller  way  supporting  free  coinage  officially  as|| 
partisans,  because  it  is  a party  measure,  who  have  signifi-  j 
cantly  remarked  that  there  was  a secret  ballot  in  Iowa,j 
and  they  could  not  afford  to  go  against  the  candidates  in  * 
the  campaign.  It  is  astonishing  how  many  people  there 
are  who  are  opposed  to  this  measure,  and  who  privately 
denounce  it  as  a fraud,  who  publicly  talk  for  it.  Whether 
they  will  privately  vote  for  it  is  somewhat  uncertain. 

GOOD  TIMES  DURING  THE  WAR. 

During  the  war  labor  was  in  demand  because  we  were 
supporting  armies  of  men,  not  simply  in  industrial  idleness 
but  in  wasteful  activity.  The  government  was  an  active 
buyer  in  every  market.  It  paid  greenbacks  and  bonds. 
These  greenbacks  were  a forced  loan  without  interest. 
They  were  accepted  by  us  as  patriotic  citizens,  not  as 
bargain  hunters.  In  so  far  as  these  notes  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  public,  this  forced  loan  exacted  by  the  gov- 
ernment is  yet  unpaid.  The  government  could  now 
make  such  “ good  tin  es  ” for  us  if  it,  with  the  cooperation 
of  the  states,  would,  during  the  next  four  years,  pile  up 
another  war  debt  of  two  thousand  million  dollars,  and 
send  a million  of  men  on  a grand  picnic,  leaving  it  to  the 
next  generation  to  pay  for  our  frolic. 

The  situation  which  now  presents  itself  is  very  differ- 
ent from  this.  The  government  will  not  support  armies 
of  men.  It  will  be  necessary  for  them  to  support  them- 
selves, and  compete  with  each  other.  The  government 
will  not  be  a buyer  of  the  food  which  anybody  will  eat. 
They  must  buy  for  themselves  such  food  as  they  can. 
Their  ability  to  buy  will  depend  upon  what  they  can  earn. 

During  the  war,  our  money  slowly  depreciated  and 
men  had  time  to  prepare  themselves  for  its  changes.  We 
were  all  struggling  in  a great  contest,  and  were  held 
steadfast  in  the  struggle  by  patriotic  resolve.  It  was  a 
great  strain  upon  us  all.  Everything  that  the  laborer  and 
farmer  had  to  buy  became  enormously  high,  and  wages 


Money  in  Business, 


23 


/ere  not  proportionately  high.  I know  that  in  1863  I 
v^as  doing,  the  work  of  a man  on  a farm  for  eight  dollars 
month,  and  I was  paid  in  greenbacks.  I have  never 
et  been  able  to  see  that  the  times  were  good  during  the 
/ar.  My  experience  is  that  there  never  was  a time  be- 
ore  since  I can  remember  when  a days  labor  would  buy 
ore  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  than  now. 
f we  can  relieve  the  business  world  of  the  hysterical  on- 
laught  that  is  now  being  made  upon  it,  and  start  the 
heels  of  industry  again,  if  men  who  wish  to  embark  in 
business  and  employ  their  money  usefully  can  be  made  to 
see  that  they  will  not  be  asked  to  give  it  away  to  those 
who  are  failures  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs, 
we  shall  have  vastly  better  times  than  we  had  during  the 
war.  Men  who  give  careful  attention  to  their  own  affairs 
are  much  more  likely  to  succeed  than  those  who  without 
any  preliminary  study  or  training,  spend  their  energies 
in  devising  financial  plans  for  the  government.  1 can  see 
that  the  farmers  who  succeed,  are  the  ones  who  do  not 
neglect  their  own  affairs  in  order  to  talk  politics.  You 
will  see  their  machinery  housed  from  the  weather.  You 
will  see  their  stock  well  cared  for.  It  requires  head-work 
to  make  money  in  any  calling  of  life. 

We  are  all  alike  interested  in  having  the  present  issues 
settled  rightly.  We  are  all  honestly  striving  to  do  our 
duty.  But  let  us  not  act  rashly.  We  cannot  afford  to  do 
so.  It  will  injure  us  if  a mistake  is  made.  The  poli- 
ticians are  not  safe  guides.  Too  many  of  them  seek  only 
to  be  elected,  and  will  vote  for  anything  that  will  keep 
them  in  office.  It  is  so  in  all  parties.  Do  your  own 
thinking,  and  vote  as  you  think. 

Iowa  City,  August,  i8g6. 


